Koliada Celebration
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Springfield Heights School 505 Sharron Bay Winnipeg, MB R2G 0H8 P. 204-663-5078 F. 204-668-9285 www.shs.retsd.mb.ca Principal Nori Dehn JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016 Vice-Principal Sherri Black Koliada Celebration... Parent Advisory Council President On Thursday, January 21, 2016 all 3 schools in RETSD with English Ukrainian Bilingual Programs, came together to cele- Dustin Mitton brate Ukrainian Christmas. The celebration is called Koliada, and it is all about Ukrainian Christmas carolling. Springfield Heights School began the concert with a special Ukrainian greeting by Sergiy, in grade one. Anna introduced SHS Lunch Program our first song, “Що там по дорозі”. Our hand chime choir (Anna, Qetso, Nicholas, Darya and Lizzy) accompanied the Karen Netzel choir as they sang. A special thank you to our hand chime choir, who have been rehearsing since November for this per- E-Mail: formance. Our second piece was “Во Вифлеємі нині новина”, with solos by Julia, Lizzy and Darya. We were pleased to [email protected] have Mr. Buternowsky and his son Nicholas accompany us Skipper Scholars (Before on tsymbaly. Our soloists and and After School Program) musicians looked so beautiful, P. 204-661-8004 dressed in brand new cos- tumes that we now have in Transportation Department our school’s English Ukrainian P. 204-669-0202 Bilingual Program. River East Transcona We enjoyed hearing the carols performed by Bernie Wolfe School Division School as well as Chief Peguis 589 Roch Street Junior High School. We joined Winnipeg, MB R2K 2P7 them to sing two Ukrainian P. 204-667-7130 Christmas carols together. F. 204-661-5618 The evening ended with an www.retsd.mb.ca opportunity to enjoy the fellowship of family and friends coming together, as well as some delicious food. Thank you to all the families, (top, left to right) At the Koliada celebration—assistant superintendent Jason for coming to our Koliada Drysdale, Springfield Heights vice-principal Sherri Black, Chief Peguis vice- principal Susan Reynolds, Springfield Heights principal Nori Dehn, trustee celebration! Jerry Sodomlak, board chair Colleen Carswell, assistant superintendent Karen Boyd, RETSD language consultant Walter Nikkel, Chief Peguis principal Doug -Pani Loughren Nowicki, assistant superintendent Greg Daniels, trustee John Toews, MLA Kindergarten/Grade.1 Ukrainian Bilingual Teacher Erna Braun, trustee Eva Prysizney, student, MLA Ron Schuler photo by Norbert Iwan P A G E 2 Message from Administration... Happy New Year Springfield Heights Families! That was a very fast January… We’d like to say thank you for joining us before Christmas at our Kindergarten to Grade 3 Concerts. As well, we hope you enjoyed our St. Nicholas assembly. These events already seem so very long ago. However, you need to know that it is always great to have you in the school, and we appreciate your support! We are very happy to have our students back at school! We have had an excellent month learning about what wisdom and courage look like, sound like, and feel like in Aboriginal culture and at Springfield Heights School. We have all been working together to “Have the Courage and Wisdom to Make Good Choices” with our learning and behaving. Please check out the article below to hear about the exciting projects all students are engaged in. Our students are looking forward to sharing their learning with you! We had an assembly to celebrate our learning on Monday, February 8th, 2016, 1:15 to 1:45 p.m. in the gym. Students had an opportunity to showcase their learning along with some special guests. We are excited to share that among the guests that presented was Chief Devon Klunis from the Winnipeg Police Service. He spoke on “Having Courage and Wisdom to Make Good Choices”. It has been a fairly cold month with the weather being unpredictable. As the weather permits, we get our students out for fresh air and exercise. Please ensure your child(ren) is dressed appropriately for the weather. We will continue to follow the divisional guidelines for indoor recesses but students are outside briefly before and after school, on the way into and while exiting the school. We want to make sure all of our students are safe and warm. If you have a moment, please drop by and visit our beautiful library to see how it is evolving. Thank you for your wonderful support of our staff FIT-A- THON fundraiser last February. One of the many things we have been able to do with the funds is to buy some new furniture for all students to use in the library. We will look forward again to having this fundraiser next year as the funds go towards enriching learning for all of our students. Please check out Madame Guillou’s interesting article in this newsletter about our library on page 11. In addition, take a moment to read our Learning and Behaving update. We continue to encourage and support students to practice Being Safe, Being Responsible and Being Respectful at Springfield Heights School. The Grade 4 and 5 students participated in the provincial Tell Them From Me survey in the fall. Thank you for taking the time to read the ―Student Safety update on page 12. It includes important safety information that was a part of previous news- letters. We are continuing to encourage driving safely and obeying the rules of the road. This is for the safety of all our children to and from school. Thank you for reading our newsletter. We hope you enjoyed learning about the engaging and wonderful activities our students took part in, in the last couple of months. Thank you so much for your excellent support this first term. We look forward to our continued partnership as we support our stu- dents to learn and grow. Best Wishes from Springfield Staff for a year of peace, health and happiness! Sincerely, Nori Dehn Sherri Black Principal Vice Principal Learning & Behaving... Students at Springfield Heights School have the courage and wisdom to make good choices. Since December, SHS has been focusing on using wisdom and courage to be safe, respectful and responsible on the playground. Children have been receiving Dolphin Tail tickets when they make positive choices at recess time. Students then add their name to the tickets and drop them off at the office to be placed in a draw. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, three names are chosen and those students come to pick a prize at the office. Out of the three winners, one name is chosen to bring Skipper the Dolphin to their classroom for the day. We all love Skipper the Dolphin! Throughout the week at SHS, we have even been doing random draws to give students more opportuni- ties to have their name drawn for a prize. Teachers at Springfield Heights truly enjoy recognizing students who have the wisdom and courage to make good choices. -Learning & Behaving Committee P A G E 3 Counselor's Corner... At one time or another, we have all felt left out or excluded by others. We all want to feel a sense of be- longing and know our feelings matter. Showing kindness and including others, even when they may seem different from us, is an important skill. One way to do this, is through teaching empathy. Empathy is the ability to see and value what another person is feeling or experiencing. By fostering empathy in our chil- dren, we can help them to better understand emotions, improve problem-solving skills, create and main- tain positive relationships and appreciate the differences in others. To develop empathy, students need to learn and then be encouraged to become aware of others’ feelings and to see situations from others’ points of view. Here are some ways to support your child's development of empathy: Help your child to identify and express his/her own emotions When we have a better insight to our own feelings, and can clearly communicate our emotions, we are more capable of understanding what others are feeling. Acknowledge your child's feelings and help them problem-solve to find a solution When children have the opportunity to experience emotions and have their feelings acknowledged, they are more likely to be able to put themselves in others’ shoes to understand their perspective. Model empathy in everyday situations Share your thoughts and feelings about how people are affected by a problem and talk about what they may be feeling or going through, how it affects you and makes you consider how to help. Read books that discuss bullying, acceptance and empathy Spending quality time reading books that will foster perspective-taking skills and empathy will help students learn different ways to show how they care about others and ways to help them. Here are some great books for younger children: “Zero” by Kathryn Otoshi “The Invisible Boy” by Trudy Ludwig “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein “One” by Kathryn Otoshi “Stand in My Shoes” by Bob Sornson “The Sneetches” by Dr. Seuss For older students, these chapter books are great recommendations: “Wonder” by R.J. Palacia “Out of My Mind” by Sharon M. Draper “Because of Mr. Terupt” by Rob Buyea Recognize and reward empathy Pay attention to when your child is responding out of empathy, reaching out to help or changing his/her behavior out of concern for another, and let them know you value and support what they’re doing. -Mrs. Thorsteinson Inclusion Committee... Springfield Heights’ students continue to work hard building a positive school environment where everyone is respected and where everyone feels safe. Cooperation will be in the spotlight in February as students play outside and participate in cooperative games and activities.